12-27-2019, 07:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-30-2020, 02:10 PM by ClutchDirk.)
Hello MFFLs!
This is a couple days late, but All Star voting season is upon us. This is a notable time for us as Mavs fans, as we have one definite, and arguably a second, All Star contender on our roster.
After being robbed of not just a roster spot, but a starting spot as well last season, will this be the year that Luka joins the All Star ranks, and if so, could it be as a starter, or if we dream big a team captain? After being selected to his 1st ASG in 2018 but being unable to play due to injury, has The Unicorn done enough on defense as his offense has been working back into shape to join the ranks again? Will there be any Mavs participating in other parts of the weekend?
We will see these questions and more answered over the next month. I thought this thread might serve as a nice discussion regarding thoughts on the ASG leading up to the game, and also could serve as a source of information on how to vote so we can do our part as a growing Mavs community to get Luka (and other Mavs) fan vote as high as possible. Let’s get started.
1. How are All Star starters chosen?
Again this season, voting from fans, players, and media pool together to choose 5 starters from each conference. The % of each voting base is unchanged from last season: Fans 50%, Players 25%, Media 25%.
5 players from each conference are chosen as starters, and this is grouped somewhat by position with 2 guards and 3 forwards/centers making up the starting 5.
2. How can I vote?
There are 4 methods to vote detailed below. These can be manipulated to various degrees, and I have ordered them from easiest to hardest.
A. NBA.com
There is a link on the NBA website to vote, and you can pick up to 2 guards and 3 F/C from both East and West on each ballot. Voting requires a 1st name, email address, zip code, and to pass one of those reCAPTCHA deals.
Note: Cookies on the website prevent you from voting more than once per day, but this is easily subverted by opening a private browser window where you can then use multiple emails, or even the same email over and over.
B. NBA App
The NBA has a mobile device app, if you watch League Pass on mobile devices you’ll already have it, otherwise I’m not sure that you would and you’ll have to download it. Voting is pretty easy through the app and requires the same information provided on NBA.com to vote. The downside is that the app keeps track and will only let you vote every 24 hours, but the upsides are that you can vote across multiple devices this way and if you delete and reinstall the app you can vote multiple times a day on the same device (this is just time consuming).
C. Google.com
Google is a host of ASG voting again this year. If you type in “NBA All Star Voting” into Google, the screen will have a section where you can search for players to vote for. This method is a bit different in that you get 10 plain votes and doesn’t worry about positions or conferences, you can spread them out however you want. You also have to have a google account and be signed in. This method is manipulatable in the sense that anyone can make a bunch of google accounts, but the effort is pretty high for this.
D. Google Assistant
I’ve never tried this so have no firsthand experience, but apparently with Google Assistant you can say, “Hey Google, vote for the NBA All Star Game” and somehow vote. For people that have a device with this, it sounds easy enough but I’m not sure.
3. Important Dates
Voting: 12/25/2019 through 1/20/2020 11:59 PM ET.
2-For-1 Dates: 1/2, 1/3, 1/10, 1/16, 1/20
*Dates are considered to run from 12:00 AM ET to 11:59 PM ET
**Every vote on these dates counts as 2 votes
Voting Updates: Fan vote updates will be given on 1/2, 1/9, and 1/16
Starter Announce Date: 1/23 during TNT NBA Tip-off
Reserve Announce Date: 1/30 during TNT NBA Tip-off
4. Voting Tips/Strategy
- Luka counts as a backcourt player this year rather than a frontcourt as he was last year. That means his primary voting competition will be Curry (will probably still get lots of votes even though hurt), Harden, and Lillard. If you want to be objective and pick a team, I guess I can’t blame you, but if your goal is to get Luka in as a starter, ideally you wouldn’t vote for any other high profile competing Western Conference guard. Same applies for Kristaps or anyone else you are targeting to be a starter. Either way, Luka beat all these guys last year in fan votes.
- The leading Western Conference vote getter last year was LeBron who beat Luka by a little less than 400K. Kawhi is the biggest vote getting competitor to move West, and Luka beat him by about 700K. If you want the possibility of Luka being a captain, you would probably avoid any high profile players like these guys on your ballots.
- If you are willing to cheese the system and vote multiple times a day, a private internet browser is by far the easiest way. It may not be within the spirit of the competition, but I don’t think the NBA really cares because they want to be able to point out high voting totals. My strategy is to vote through the NBA app on both my devices each day, once on Google with my regular account and will bother to log into my junk account as well on the 2-for-1 days, and at least 5 more times a day through NBA.com (and likely as much as I think about it on the 2-for-1 days)
Alright, what are you doing? Go vote for the Mavs!
Now for a little discussion.
Last years Western Conference All-Stars (minus Dirk who was a special edition)
Starters:
- LeBron
- Curry
- Harden
- Durant
- George
Reserves:
- Westbrook
- Thompson
- Aldridge
- Lillard
- Anthony Davis
- Jokic
- KAT
So there’s at least 3 slots that open up due to injury/Eastern migration. A 4th slot should open up with Aldridge out (didn’t deserve it last year, sure won’t get it this year), and I don’t think Westbrook’s spot is necessarily secure so maybe a 5th.
Luka and Kawhi are pretty much locks IMO to take 2 of the spots. I think Gobert probably gets the 3rd spot, but maybe Donovan Mitchell gets it though I think he tends to be overrated. I don’t think the Jazz have performed well enough to secure 2 All-Stars, so unless they have a really hot January, hopefully it’s just Gobert.
Devin Booker is a strong contender given the Suns rise from bottom dweller to 8th seed contender at this point.
I’ll predict that Westbrook holds onto his spot, but due to just having ok looking numbers as a whole rather than the fact he’s playing like an All-Star. Maybe the NBA head coaches will prove me wrong.
If KP has a strong January maybe he could be a contender or at least mentioned as a snub. I’m thinking next year is more likely, though that will also come with Curry and Thompson being back so who knows.
This is a couple days late, but All Star voting season is upon us. This is a notable time for us as Mavs fans, as we have one definite, and arguably a second, All Star contender on our roster.
After being robbed of not just a roster spot, but a starting spot as well last season, will this be the year that Luka joins the All Star ranks, and if so, could it be as a starter, or if we dream big a team captain? After being selected to his 1st ASG in 2018 but being unable to play due to injury, has The Unicorn done enough on defense as his offense has been working back into shape to join the ranks again? Will there be any Mavs participating in other parts of the weekend?
We will see these questions and more answered over the next month. I thought this thread might serve as a nice discussion regarding thoughts on the ASG leading up to the game, and also could serve as a source of information on how to vote so we can do our part as a growing Mavs community to get Luka (and other Mavs) fan vote as high as possible. Let’s get started.
1. How are All Star starters chosen?
Again this season, voting from fans, players, and media pool together to choose 5 starters from each conference. The % of each voting base is unchanged from last season: Fans 50%, Players 25%, Media 25%.
5 players from each conference are chosen as starters, and this is grouped somewhat by position with 2 guards and 3 forwards/centers making up the starting 5.
2. How can I vote?
There are 4 methods to vote detailed below. These can be manipulated to various degrees, and I have ordered them from easiest to hardest.
A. NBA.com
There is a link on the NBA website to vote, and you can pick up to 2 guards and 3 F/C from both East and West on each ballot. Voting requires a 1st name, email address, zip code, and to pass one of those reCAPTCHA deals.
Note: Cookies on the website prevent you from voting more than once per day, but this is easily subverted by opening a private browser window where you can then use multiple emails, or even the same email over and over.
B. NBA App
The NBA has a mobile device app, if you watch League Pass on mobile devices you’ll already have it, otherwise I’m not sure that you would and you’ll have to download it. Voting is pretty easy through the app and requires the same information provided on NBA.com to vote. The downside is that the app keeps track and will only let you vote every 24 hours, but the upsides are that you can vote across multiple devices this way and if you delete and reinstall the app you can vote multiple times a day on the same device (this is just time consuming).
C. Google.com
Google is a host of ASG voting again this year. If you type in “NBA All Star Voting” into Google, the screen will have a section where you can search for players to vote for. This method is a bit different in that you get 10 plain votes and doesn’t worry about positions or conferences, you can spread them out however you want. You also have to have a google account and be signed in. This method is manipulatable in the sense that anyone can make a bunch of google accounts, but the effort is pretty high for this.
D. Google Assistant
I’ve never tried this so have no firsthand experience, but apparently with Google Assistant you can say, “Hey Google, vote for the NBA All Star Game” and somehow vote. For people that have a device with this, it sounds easy enough but I’m not sure.
3. Important Dates
Voting: 12/25/2019 through 1/20/2020 11:59 PM ET.
2-For-1 Dates: 1/2, 1/3, 1/10, 1/16, 1/20
*Dates are considered to run from 12:00 AM ET to 11:59 PM ET
**Every vote on these dates counts as 2 votes
Voting Updates: Fan vote updates will be given on 1/2, 1/9, and 1/16
Starter Announce Date: 1/23 during TNT NBA Tip-off
Reserve Announce Date: 1/30 during TNT NBA Tip-off
4. Voting Tips/Strategy
- Luka counts as a backcourt player this year rather than a frontcourt as he was last year. That means his primary voting competition will be Curry (will probably still get lots of votes even though hurt), Harden, and Lillard. If you want to be objective and pick a team, I guess I can’t blame you, but if your goal is to get Luka in as a starter, ideally you wouldn’t vote for any other high profile competing Western Conference guard. Same applies for Kristaps or anyone else you are targeting to be a starter. Either way, Luka beat all these guys last year in fan votes.
- The leading Western Conference vote getter last year was LeBron who beat Luka by a little less than 400K. Kawhi is the biggest vote getting competitor to move West, and Luka beat him by about 700K. If you want the possibility of Luka being a captain, you would probably avoid any high profile players like these guys on your ballots.
- If you are willing to cheese the system and vote multiple times a day, a private internet browser is by far the easiest way. It may not be within the spirit of the competition, but I don’t think the NBA really cares because they want to be able to point out high voting totals. My strategy is to vote through the NBA app on both my devices each day, once on Google with my regular account and will bother to log into my junk account as well on the 2-for-1 days, and at least 5 more times a day through NBA.com (and likely as much as I think about it on the 2-for-1 days)
Alright, what are you doing? Go vote for the Mavs!
Now for a little discussion.
Last years Western Conference All-Stars (minus Dirk who was a special edition)
Starters:
- LeBron
- Curry
- Harden
- Durant
- George
Reserves:
- Westbrook
- Thompson
- Aldridge
- Lillard
- Anthony Davis
- Jokic
- KAT
So there’s at least 3 slots that open up due to injury/Eastern migration. A 4th slot should open up with Aldridge out (didn’t deserve it last year, sure won’t get it this year), and I don’t think Westbrook’s spot is necessarily secure so maybe a 5th.
Luka and Kawhi are pretty much locks IMO to take 2 of the spots. I think Gobert probably gets the 3rd spot, but maybe Donovan Mitchell gets it though I think he tends to be overrated. I don’t think the Jazz have performed well enough to secure 2 All-Stars, so unless they have a really hot January, hopefully it’s just Gobert.
Devin Booker is a strong contender given the Suns rise from bottom dweller to 8th seed contender at this point.
I’ll predict that Westbrook holds onto his spot, but due to just having ok looking numbers as a whole rather than the fact he’s playing like an All-Star. Maybe the NBA head coaches will prove me wrong.
If KP has a strong January maybe he could be a contender or at least mentioned as a snub. I’m thinking next year is more likely, though that will also come with Curry and Thompson being back so who knows.